The SA Journal Diabetes & Vascular Disease Vol 16 No 1 (July 2019)

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RESEARCH ARTICLE SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE
28 VOLUME 16 NUMBER 1 • JULY 2019
bias, recall bias and reliance on self-reports, all of which could have
resulted in information bias and possible misclassification. Thirdly, a
substantial proportion of patients in the research settingwere referred
from other clinics for uncontrolled hypertension, which could have
resulted in selection bias. Fourthly, only CV risk factors relevant to
PHC were investigated and exclusion of some investigations, such as
echocardiogram, could have underestimated CV risks such as LVH.
Lastly, the study setting had an under-representation of coloured and
Asian ethnic groups and the study findings may therefore not be
representative of the overall South African population.
Most studies on CV risk factors in South Africa have been
community or hospital based. One of the strengths of this study
includes that it is one of the few studies that focused on CV risks
among patients with hypertension in PHC. It also uncovered a high
prevalence of co-existing CV risks among patients with hypertension
in a peri-urban setting and highlights the substantial risk of CVD in
South African PHC. Based on its findings, the study indicates that
the PHC level of care must play a significant role in curbing the
epidemic of CVD in South Africa.
Conclusion
This study shows that the prevalence of CV risk factors among
patients with hypertension in South African PHC is high, reflecting
the clustering of CV risk factors and a high CVD risk in this
population. While urgent preventative interventions are needed to
address this enormous risk, such interventions must take cognisance
of the sociodemographic disparities in prevalence of CV risk factors
in South Africa.
Acknowledgements
We thank Ms Nthate Mochaba and Thandeka Bhayi for their work as
research assistants, and the entire staff of Johan Heyns Community
Health Centre for their support and co-operation. We are grateful
to Dr A Kalain for his assistance with data analysis.
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